Giovanna Lauro is the Deputy CEO of Equimundo. She has over two decades of experience working to advance gender equality and prevent gender-based violence. Her work centers on reshaping gender norms, particularly by challenging harmful notions of masculinity.

Before joining Equimundo, Giovanna served as Associate Director of the Women and Population Programme at the United Nations Foundation, where she coordinated efforts and investments to advance the rights of adolescent girls worldwide. Her career also includes research on diversity, race, and ethnicity at the London School of Economics, alongside a doctorate in Political Science from the University of Oxford. At Oxford, she explored policies aimed at the prevention of harmful traditional practices across several European countries.

In this episode, Giovanna shares her own journey as a feminist activist, coming from quite a conservative and patriarchal society in Italy. Julia speaks to her about how much the world has changed since she began her career and about the important work of reframing masculinity and gender norms.

Giovanna shares her insights into what a Trump Presidency will mean for gender equality and we discuss the impact on young men. We talk about big tech and the macho-broligarchs - and what we can all do to help shift the narratives around masculinity.

Giovanna shares her advice for young activists and seasoned ones too.

This is an episode to help make sense of what we're witnessing in the world today, and the power structures at play.

Learn more about Equimundo here.

Julia mentions free resources on digital communications and strategic storytelling in the episode. Get them here.